1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to the purchase of products over the internet and, more particularly, is directed to an apparatus and method for integrating options and services offered by a service provider onto a merchant website.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The World Wide Web (Web) is part of a global computer network known as the Internet. Scientists and academicians initially developed and used the Internet to share information and collaborate. The Web functions as an object based multimedia system. It allows for the creation, storage and delivery of multimedia objects. Recently, on-line service providers, such as Microsoft Network, CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online, have linked to the Web. This enables their customers to access a variety of products and services available from independent content providers and other Web users. For example, a typical customer can access electronic mail, news services, travel services and online stores and malls on the Web.
The global penetration of the Internet provides merchants with the capability to merchandise their products to substantial shopping audiences using an online merchant system. Online merchant systems enable merchants to creatively display and describe their products to shoppers using Web pages. Merchants can layout and display Web pages having content such as, text, pictures, sound and video, using HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Web shoppers, in turn, access a merchant's Web page using a browser, such as Microsoft Explorer or Netscape Navigator, installed on a client connected to the Web through an online service provider, such as the Microsoft Network or America OnLine. The browser interprets the HTML to format and display the merchant's page for the shopper. The online merchant system likewise enables shoppers to browse through a merchant's store to identify products of interest, to obtain specific product information and to electronically purchase products after reviewing product information.
A problem with commerce over the Internet is that the customer generally must type in and transmit a plethora of information, including confidential financial information, each time the customer wishes to purchase something from a merchant. The type and form of such information varies from merchant to merchant, and each merchant typically has a customized electronic order form. This is a hassle for the customer. It also requires confidential information to be placed at risk each time such information is transmitted to a new merchant.
Another problem with commerce over the Internet is the lack of standards and integration for conducting digital commerce. Creating a virtual store often is expensive and time consuming because merchants must create custom systems for selling their merchandise and making sure they obtain adequate information and payment from customers.
The recent proliferation of client-server based distributed systems has led to the development of numerous server applications, located on server computer systems, that interact with client applications, located on client computer systems. For example, one recently developed client application is a cyber wallet, which contains financial instruments in electronic form, such as electronic cash, electronic debit cards or electronic credit cards. An electronic wallet typically resides on a client computer system, and performs financial transactions, such as purchases, by communicating with a server application on a server computer system. For example, a user on a client computer system might decide to purchase software from a server computer system that belongs to a software vendor. Protocols such as the Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) protocol and the Open Trading Protocol (OTP) enable the server computer system to receive a payment for the software from an electronic wallet on the client computer system. Using these protocols, this payment is automatically deducted from an account linked to the electronic wallet on the client computer system, and is automatically credited to an account linked to an application on the server computer system.
One problem with many existing server-based applications, as well as with protocols such as SET and OTP, is that they are designed to interact with a client application that resides on a client computer system. Locating an application, such as an electronic wallet, on a client computer system has certain disadvantages. First, an owner of the client application may want to use the client application from a number of different client computer systems. In this case, if the client application is tied to a particular client computer system, the owner of the client application cannot access the client application from another client computer system. Second, installing a client application, such as a wallet, on a client computer system can take up storage space on the client computer system and may require additional maintenance on the client computer system to update the client application, for example. Additionally, retrieving code from a server computer system can incur a long delay in downloading the code from the server computer system.
Electronic shopping and merchandising system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,622, Blinn, Apr. 27, 1999 discloses a merchant system that includes a dynamic page generator, a configurable order processing module and a database module capable of retrieving data from the database without regard to its schema. The system enables merchants to create electronic orders which are easily adaptable for different sales situations. While this invention discloses improvements to make the modification of a website easier, the system does not disclose how it could be integrated with other systems.
Public network merchandising system, U.S. Pat. No, 5,825,881, Colvin, Sr., Oct. 20, 1998 discloses a system for conducting commerce over a large public network such as the Internet where the system facilitates communications between a merchant, a customer, and a bank or credit card processor by using a cyber wallet. However, while a cyber wallet is disclosed, no teaching is disclosed as to how to integrate such a cyber wallet across multiple non-integrated websites.
What is needed is a system that integrates a cyber wallet with any client computer system without the need for high-level integration, and where the cyber wallet is not located on a client computer system. What is needed is a system that can deliver the benefits of a highly integrated system in a shorter period of time.